Odawara Castle

photo by pyzhou · CC BY-SA 3.0

photo by Aimaimyi · CC BY-SA 3.0

In 1590 it held out for a hundred days against a siege by 180,000 men: it fell only by surrender.

The current tower, rebuilt in concrete in 1960, rises to 38.7 metres and houses armour, swords and maps of the five lords of the Hōjō clan who governed the Kantō from here for a century. The castle withstood the attacks of Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, but not Toyotomi Hideyoshi: in 1590 it was surrounded for a hundred days by a hundred and eighty thousand men, while on the hill opposite the phantom castle of Ishigakiyama sprang up, built specifically to wear down the defenders' morale. From the top floor you can see Sagami Bay and, on clear days, the Bōsō Peninsula.

It was the base of the five lords of the Hōjō clan (北条五代), who from 1495 governed much of the Kantō from here. The original tenshu, built in 1580 by the fifth Hōjō, was demolished with the end of feudalism in 1870 and rebuilt in reinforced concrete in 1960, for the twentieth anniversary of the city of Odawara.

ℹ️ Tower open 9:00–17:00 (last entry 16:30), closed on 31 December, 1 January and the second Wednesday of December. Ticket 1,000 yen (800 for groups of 30+), children 300 yen (240 in a group); free with a disability certificate and one companion.

🚉 Hakone-Itabashi · 16 min walk

Sources: odawaracastle.com · odawaracastle.com · kanagawa-kankou.or.jp

All series · Open the map